Generally speaking, you learn more about how something works when the core functionality is exposed to the user, and just janky enough to require fiddling with it and fixing things.
This is true of lots of things like cars, drones, 3D printers, and computers. If you get a really nice one, it just works and you don’t have to figure anything out. A cheap one, or something you have to build yourself, makes you have to learn how it actually works to get it to run right.
Now that things are so comodified and simplified, they just work and really discourage tinkering, so people learn less about core functionality and how things actually work. Not always true, but a trend I’ve experienced.
Even if it were thicker I’d still slap on a sacrificial glass screen protector atop it. I’ve dropped my phone only a handful of times, and so far have only ever broken the protector.
Just slap a shield on it, there’s your added thickness and better drop resistance all in one!